Recognized by Chicago Magazine as an "Illinois Super Lawyer" from 2006-2015, Champ Davis has a wealth of experience earned in his legal practice, including extensive litigation experience in both state and federal courts. He has counseled clients on a broad array of cases and business matters in such areas as contracts, employment, distribution, trade secrets, franchising, anti-trust, and more.

Champ has substantial experience in alternative dispute resolution. He is a past-chair of the Illinois State Bar Professional Conduct Committee; a past-chair of the Illinois State Bar Association Section Council on Alternative Dispute Resolution. He serves as an arbitrator for both the American Arbitration Association and the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and was appointed in 2010 as an arbitrator to hear automobile dealership cases arising under special Federal legislation. He is a Mediator for the Cook County Major Case Mediation Program, and for the Northern District of Illinois Lanham Act Program. He is a former Adjunct Professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he taught a course in Negotiations from 1992-2012.

With his law experience complemented by a long history of involvement in engineering, applied sciences, and technology, Champ has a clientele that have learned to rely on his technical expertise; many of his and the firm's clients are in the computer and technology sectors, or are companies whose legal matters include technical information. He has advised on protections and contracts for software development and the protection of intellectual property including proprietary technical and hardware designs. He is a past Chair of the Chicago Bar Association Computer Law Committee and of Committee on Professional Responsibility.

Mr. Davis has long been involved with legal ethics issues and matters. He is a past Chair of the Chicago Bar Association Committee on Professional Responsibility; a past chair of the Illinois Bar Association Committee on the ARDC; a member of the Joint ISBA-CBA Ethics 2000 Committee which recommended to the Illinois Supreme Court changes to the Illinois Rules of Profession Conduct. Since 1987, the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of the Illinois Supreme Court ("ARDC") has appointed Mr. Davis to successive annual terms as a member and chair of one of its hearing panels which hears contested cases and makes recommendations for the discipline of lawyers charged with misconduct. In 2011, Mr. Davis was appointed Chair of the Full Hearing Board of the ARDC. Champ has also been recognized by the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin as a "Leading Lawyer" in Illinois in the fields of commercial litigation and computer and technology law.

Prior to his co-founding Davis McGrath in 1990, Champ was a partner and head of the Litigation Group of Chadwell & Kayser, He earned his J.D. at the University of Illinois College of Law, where he served on the Law Review and was admitted to the Order of the Coif.

Education

J.D., Order of the Coif, University of Illinois College of Law, 1966

B.S., University of Illinois, 1963

Bar Admissions

Illinois (1966)

U.S. District Court for the Northern Districts of Illinois (1966) (Trial Bar, 1966)